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Some chefs say the steak cooks more evenly by flipping it often. Others say this makes the juices run out. With so many different styles and recipes out there, one must wonder: who is right?

What are the reasons one would flip a steak regularly or only once? Does the type of meat have any influence on this?

Also, why would flipping the steaks frequently (supposedly) make them cook more evenly? If both sides are exposed to the same heat for the same amount of time, what is the difference?

Anastasia Zendaya
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user256872
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2 Answers2

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There's a great deal of opinion on this subject, the majority of the testing I've seen favors the multiple flip method. My own tests agree, you get a better result from more flipping.

Type of meat has no influence on the method, although it impacts how long you cook it. For example a rump steak is a bit denser than a sirloin or ribeye so it takes longer to cook.

The reason that steaks cook unevenly when flipped once is that the top of the steak heats as you cook the bottom, when you flip it what was the top has a warmer starting point so that side ends up hotter at the end of cooking. You can get evenness from the one flip method by doing 2/3 of the cooking time on the first side and 1/3 on the other side (that's approximate from my own testing). The benefit of a single flip is it's less time spent on the steak, if you have a lot going on in the kitchen you have more time to spend on other tasks.

Other than that multiple flips are the way to go as you get even cooking, less curling (although you can reduce fat curling by cutting across the fat every inch, this gets a better result in general), and the steak tends to cook faster. Note this is for thicker steaks, for thin steaks you really just want to get a crust on as quickly as you can, so a single flip makes sense.

I've never noticed a difference in juiciness with either method, other aspects of technique are more important, for instance with a thick steak you want to cook it mostly on the cool side of the barbecue and then crisp it up on high heat as opposed to cooking it on high heat the whole time.

GdD
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    Huh, I always figured flipping cooked more evenly because it prevents the hot side from getting too hot. I.e., if you leave one side down too long, by the time heat has made it to the middle, the outside will have gotten too hot. Whereas flipping lets the top outside cool down a bit, while still transferring some of that energy to the cooler interior – BThompson Jun 04 '21 at 13:13
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    Aside from cooking in a closed grill, I hadn't really thought about the heat that the top of the steak will be getting. Thanks for pointing that out! – BThompson Jun 04 '21 at 13:25
  • This is not just with steak, it's with most kinds of meat once they get a bit thicker. I even do it with hamburgers. Fish is trickier, but for the rest: keep flipping. – Mast Jun 05 '21 at 20:31
  • It also depends heavily on how you like your steak done. If you're going for well done or medium well, then yeah, flip it around all day on there. If you're making rare then there really isn't enough time to bother flipping more than once - you'll be cooking on the highest heat available for just a few minutes on each side, even for a really thick cut, and then you're done, and you need those few minutes of uninterrupted heat to get a nice char. – J... Jun 06 '21 at 11:43
  • @J... I don't think the uninterrupted heat is necessary to get a good char. I think you get a better (or at least a very similar) char from 3x30s on one side than 1x90s. Try it out! So I think the same flipping advice would hold for rare steaks. It's all about avoiding to overcook the middle while searing the outside. https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-flip-your-steaks-and-burgers-multiple-times-for-better-results – user2705196 Jun 06 '21 at 13:38
  • @user2705196 The arguments there seem to contradict fundamental thermodynamics. If you're cooking a rare steak, you don't want it cooked at all in the middle. Every flip cools the browning surface, frustrating what you're trying to achieve (Maillard at the surface), and allowing more low-grade heat to drive further into the steak, forcing proteins to contract and squeeze more liquid to the surface (again, bad for temperature) while you posh around flipping the thing every thirty seconds, dragging out the cooking process for far longer than it needs. Great for well done, rubbish for rare. – J... Jun 06 '21 at 14:23
  • @J... Nope, it's *because* of thermodynamics that you want to do that (keep the inside cool while reaching high temps on the outside). Maillard at the surface will happen easily with a hot pan because you get 150C w/o problem. And you won't get any extra moisture. But instead of theorizing try it out yourself, or follow the data of those who've compared it directly as shown in the above link. – user2705196 Jun 06 '21 at 20:02
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    @user2705196 I'm not theorizing - I have decades of experience as a physicist, materials scientist, and a cook, and I've particularly spent a long time perfecting rare steaks. The more you flip, the longer it takes, the more the centre cooks. – J... Jun 06 '21 at 21:29
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    @user2705196 I no longer cook steak, but I'm with J... both as a home cook and physicist. I used to do multiple flips for medium-well to avoid the outside over-charring while getting the middle good and hot, but one flip for rare (in the same pan, staggered starts to have them ready at the same time). If you flip once, you have no heat flow from the top of the steak towards the middle until late in cooking (aside from anything to do with hot air over the pan), but if you flip more than once, there's heat flow both up and down towards the middle from the first flip. – Chris H Jun 07 '21 at 15:19
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If the steak is enclosed by a lid, such as in an outdoor grill, you flip once, because you lose 50 degrees every time you open the lid, which breaks the constant thermal transfer of heat to the center of the steak, so the inside will not be cooked properly.

Anastasia Zendaya
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blahblah
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